Stowaway
by Nerumi H
Summary: In which the crew retells the story of how Rapunzel the not-so-princess found her way onto the ship, and exactly whose fault it is. /RotBTD Pirate AU


.title.: **Stowaway**

.summary.: **In which the crew retells the story of how Rapunzel the not-so-princess found her way onto the ship, and exactly whose fault it is.**

.prompt by.: **cilone on tumblr**

.universe.: **Pirate AU**

.a/n.: **Hey there. This one is kind of long but the universe was just so fun! Plus I got to add tidbits of my favourite brOTP, Flynn/Jack. This has no romance ships in it, other than hints of Flynn/Rapunzel because seriously how can you write a fic with those two and not add a (possibly forced) spark?**

**The crew includes: Flynn, Jack, Hiccup, Merida, Astrid, Fishlegs, and Rapunzel. Plus Toothless.**

**My knowledge of ships is horrible. Enjoy anyways!**

**X**

"What are you doing? You're gonna ruin her."

Both Flynn and Rapunzel quickly looked up from where they stood at opposite ends of the room, to see Jack leaned against the frame of the doorway, a smirk on his face as always. Flynn pointed the sword he held in his friend's direction, the point levelling with his chin from Flynn's point of view.

"I figured the city girl could get used to her own two feet for once."

Jack snorted, icy blue eyes pointedly dropping on Rapunzel. She held a blade, too, squeezing her fist around the hilt like she was terrified to drop it upon her own toes. She was still wearing her dress that they first found her in, a filthy butter-yellow that now made her look like she had stolen the clothing of a corpse.

Jack said, his teasing obvious, "This is so romantic. I can't believe I'm not invited down there with you."

Flynn lilted, "Maybe later," and swung his arm back to land an arc of the blade on her person – she emitted a squeak of fear but had her sword up just in time.

He chuckled, saying, "Not bad, Blondie." She grinned back, her free hand playfully behind her back.

Flynn glanced up again at Jack, waving him off. "Leave the adults alone, Jackie. Are we almost there?"

"Sure. And sure, if you imagine so, _mon capitaine."_ Jack tipped a bow. Once Jack vanished back up the rickety staircase, Flynn turned back to smirk at Rapunzel. She hadn't been with them very long but she was embedding her own impact, a different flavour of not just girl, but person, on the ship. Prim, youthful, proper, sugary – he snapped out his wrist to block her sudden swing of the blade.

Spontaneous.

"Watch out, if you hurt me, you have to face Astrid," Flynn said. Rapunzel sauntered closer, pressing the hilt of the blade gingerly into his palm. As he sheathed his own sword with a ringing noise, she giggled sunnily.

"I won't hurt you, we both know that. Besides, I'm not scared of anyone here."

He replaced hers under a nearby bench – it was Jack's, and he'd knowingly fetch it later. "That so?"

"Yep," she twittered, and followed his gait to the deck. "You lower the entire intimidation of the whole ship."

"Hah. Come on, Blondie. That's not one ounce true."

She laughed again as they breached the deck, sweltering sun spilling anew over them in the reflection of the scarred wood. The ship (whom Rapunzel kept calling Maximus from the instant she'd boarded even though it was currently nameless since no one could agree on a title) was a decent size boat with blistered decks, painted sails, unlocked canon ports, and the impressive chiselled dragon that took the place of the customary mermaid figurehead.

She continued with a voice as rich and teasing as false gold, "Remember, it wasn't me being scared that brought me on this ship, Flynn."

Flynn glimpsed down at her, a hand resting on his hip. She was referring of course to the day she somehow gained control of the crew for a split second – a split second that resulted in her sharing a room with Merida and waking up half the crew every morning because she had never seen a sunrise so gorgeous over the water. He said, "No, I think that was managed with my pure unadulterated charm."

She made a falsely indignant little chirping noise and lightly boxed his shoulder, her skinny knuckles aiming to imprint four tiny bruises. He was far too gentlemanly to push her off, but next thing he knew, he'd received another blow to his other shoulder – that one was better placed, an audible smack from a practised fist. "Hey!"

Merida lowered her hands, smirking across him. "Hit with this part, Punzie," she instructed kindly, showing her the flat, crushing platform between her knuckles. "And don't tuck in your thumb." She joined in their casual stroll up the deck, pushing up her billowy sleeves, and ignoring Jack calling down to her, "You girls keep that up, we're gonna be overpowered!"

She asked, "What're we talking about?"

Rapunzel said, "How I joined the crew completely out of my own volition."

Merida chuckled, ducking around Flynn to hook her arm in the blonde's. "Come on, _I_ certainly had a little somethin' to do with it."

X … X

**"Mind the boat," Jack instructed Hiccup, jumping off the border of the deck and landing lithely as always, one boot and one bare foot sunken into the dirt. He twisted around and flicked up Hiccup's chin with a crooked finger, resulting in the fringes of a tired grimace and, "Fine, boat duty. Again."**

**"Can your dog come with?" Jack asked, and from somewhere up ahead on the unused port, Flynn hollered, "Definitely not!"**

**As if noticing he was being discussed, Toothless's furry black head peeped up over the edge of the boat, massive paws holding him up to all the Dane's majesty. Jack whistled, and with an easy leap, Toothless was trotting in the mud.**

**Hiccup asked, disgruntled, "You're really gonna leave me alone?"**

**"I'm sure your Viking self can handle it," Merida teased. Astrid turned from where she was flanking Flynn, blew her overgrown blonde bangs out of her face, and called, "Nah, come with us, Hic. It's not like anyone's going to come back here. We don't need****_ two_**** babysitters."**

**There were shuffling footsteps above on the boat, and then another face appeared. It was pockmarked, blonde, rotund, and enthusiastically waving a book around.**

**"I'm set! Go ahead!"**

**"You heard him!" Astrid said, and grabbed Hiccup's sleeve to enthusiastically pull him across the sand.**

**The five made their way through the gravelly beach, the ground choked with dead leaves and the angrily lapping tide. They weren't expecting a wave of defense from this city, so all but the consistently wary Hiccup and Flynn (although he wouldn't admit it) were at ease with leaving Fishlegs alone with the ship on the opposite port from the trading piers. It – **

X … X

"Sheesh, Red. You're starting way too far back."

Merida looked up from over Rapunzel's head, shooting Flynn a mildly annoyed look. "She doesn't know this part though."

"Nothing _happens_ at this part."

"Nothin' with _you,_ ya mean."

Rapunzel began giggling. "It's not _worth_ it if _Flynn's_ not in it," she teased, and Merida squeezed her arm after sticking her tongue out at man in question.

She said, "Fine. Let's start again, princess_es_. Where abouts?"

Flynn volunteered as they reached the pack of crates lifted from their past rest stop, "Okay, well, skip past the walking, that's not exactly momentous."

Rapunzel seated herself neatly between the two of them, folding her fingers around her crossed legs. Surrouding them was the crew: Hiccup managed the wheel with Toothless holding post beside him, Astrid was talking to Fishlegs against the mast, and Jack crouched like he was eyeing for prey on the bowsprit. Rapunzel said, "Well, how about you start where things really did get interesting? When the clergyman tried to stop Astrid, like you told me?"

X … X

**"You have got to be kidding me."**

**The blonde woman looked down the rust of her blade at the man who was trying to hold her off of the whole city. He was standing his shaking ground in the middle of a stone street, as frazzled as if she'd just pantsed him or something, not strolled in as careless as was Astrid's way, her guns in her belt and her crew flanking her.**

**"We – we won't have you here!" he stammered at her.**

**Astrid regarded him levelly. "That's fine. I don't want you to ****_have_**** me." And then like he was nothing but another part of the gutters, slammed her boot into his chest and strolled past. She looked over her shoulder at the others. "Coming?"**

**Hiccup was the first to nod and he trotted after her, awkwardly hop-scotching around the clergyman who looked as if Astrid had punctured his lung. The girls stuck together always, as Merida once again proved, her bow-and-arrow cocked at every civilian who dared to peer out of their house. Jack hung back a bit with Flynn.**

**Jack nudged him, tilting up his chin towards a taller cottage on the edge of the street. Flynn caught sight of the rickety sign hanging from the doorway – a tavern.**

**"Are you thinking what – "**

**"Do you even have to ask, Jack?"**

**Jack snickered, and the both of them broke from the absent group to make towards the tavern. Flynn, who was comparably stronger, kicked open the door on a crowd of dumbstruck men with drinks in their hands and suspicion in their eyes. It was simple as strolling past the barman with the silent threat of a cocked gun, jumping the counter, and then Jack set to work in cracking open the reserve barrels of rum. Amber liquid sloshed over the floor, Flynn quickly backtracking when it splashed on his boots.**

**Jack looked up at the panic-struck people of the bar, rolled a match through his fingers, and said, "You might want to leave."**

X … X

Merida sneered at Flynn. "I knew it was you! Jack tried to deny it! Ya nearly caught me on fire when we were tryin' to leave!"

Flynn held up his hands, innocently shading a lazy grin over the two of them. "Honestly, ladies, who else would it have been? Were you really giving us the benefit of the doubt?"

Merida scrunched up her nose, turned to Rapunzel, and quickly advised, "Lesson learned. Don't ever give those two _any _benefit."

"Why does it even bug you?" Flynn asked, leaning back on his hand and nodding at Rapunzel. "It gave her a free ticket out, didn't it?"

Rapunzel smiled, tapping her fingers in a light pattern against her skirt, her eyes drifting to her feet which she'd long preferred to leave bare after she lost her shoes, Cinderella-style, on her way out of the town. "It's a bit more complicated than that…"

X … X

**Meanwhile, as a fire caught its chokehold on the tavern, spilled out on the heels of two far too amused men eyeing the town's slummy streets for more trouble – a blonde thief was clinging to her last sliver of freedom.**

**The guard had found her; they were two brave soldiers with their helmets turned down low and their fists around her arms. Even as her skin blistered and she kicked her bare heels into the ground to stop them, she couldn't help but feel a spark of rare pride – she had been running for two days, and it was only ****_minutes_**** ago that they finally managed to close in on her.**

**Leaving her manor… It hadn't been something she was seriously contemplating for long. Occasionally, maybe, when she got bored and longed to swim in the sea and meet more people than her mother could offer her. But never…never like this.**

**Never like this, because she never had such a desperate reason to escape.**

**She tried to wriggle out of the soldiers' holds. "Please, I promise, I can explain all of it – the whole story, if you just let me – "**

**One said to the other like her current compromise and ****_feelings_**** were some grand joke, "The king has no ears for your excuses, wench. Did you think you wouldn't be caught at the capita for jewel trading? Not a very bright girl, are you."**

**She worried her lip, unable to shake them off as they began to drag her out of the alley she'd been crouching in when she saw them breach the town. No ideas came to mind – she credited herself a creative girl, but coming up with poetry and murals was not the same skill as coming up with maneuvers to avoid certain imprisonment.**

**Oh, who was she kidding, it was certain ****_death._**

**She just wanted to go home, but nobody at all wanted her there. Nobody believed her, not even her own family.**

**"Please," she begged again, voice trembling as thinly as a plucked violin string, "I beg of you. There – I'm not in league with ****_anyone_****, I don't ****_know_**** where that jewellery came from, I ****_swear it on my life –_**** "**

**A throaty chuckle was all that resonated back to her, and she realised that she had unwillingly injected irony into the situation. Using the idea of her life to try for freedom. Oh, hilarious.**

**The thick smell of smoke and burning sugars flooded her nose, pungent and sudden enough to pinch behind her eyes and cause them to water. She twisted to see what was happening – across a narrow street, precariously close to a spindly forest, a building was on fire.**

**At first it was merely flames licking from the windows, then they caught on bales piled on someone's carriage – they piled higher, filling the air with the putrid stench. Patrons spilled out, the early morning drunks with their alcohol splashed on their shirts.**

**The soldiers were a mess of exclamations – ad then an explosion darted clear through one ear and out the other, leaving her feeling dumbfounded, and suddenly dropped to the ground. Her green eyes cleared the way they would after staring at the sun directly – a pinpoint that burned and gradually spread. But all she saw for a moment was light instead of the ground beneath her. Whatever had set that off, a barrel of gunpowder hiding in the tavern in case the fascist kingdom reared its head, a sudden bomb, whichever, it had been ****_close._**

**Far too close, she realised as she found herself staring into the face of a wall of fire, glowing orange chewing through the dry grass around her feet.**

**Rapunzel scrambled up, gathered her skirts, and ran. She didn't look back at the soldiers, even though she couldn't help but fear what may fall upon them so close to danger. She just ran until she smacked headlong into someone.**

**She didn't want to look, she needed to get out and as fast as should could, even if she had to goddamn ****_swim_**** to the next island, but a hand tugged on the back of her corset, catching her ringlets in its seize. She tried to twist away, but in the process, her gaze fell upon the attacker.**

**The person holding her was a woman. A redheaded woman with wild curls bursting from her scalp and eyes so crystal clear that her pupils looked like an eclipse. They stared at each other for an instant, Rapunzel taking in her filthy skin, her frayed shirt, the sword casually slung at her hip.**

**Her mind clicked immediately to 'pirate', and was struck with fear that shouldn't touch her any longer now that she was considered to be on their level.**

**So she did the first thing she could think of and took a breath to scream.**

**She only managed a tiny "eep" before the person who stopped her was ****_herself._****_And_**** an idea crashing in as abruptly as the pirate now tried to leave her.**

**Rapunzel's hand caught her wrist, and exclaimed, "Wait! Wait, you're here to, uhm, steal, right?"**

**The girl's eyes narrowed a bit more, her frown lifting into half a smirk at Rapunzel's expense. "Yeah, you can put it that way, Lady."**

**Lady. ****_Lady._**** Not anymore, and certainly not with this plan. Rapunzel tucked her bottom lip between her teeth. She was trying ****_not_**** to concern herself with the order of her words because they would mean the same pitiful thing no matter how she phrased it. She held fast to the other girl and nearly yelled, "I'm Rapunzel Corona and you must have heard of me and the scandal I – that I made, with the jewels of the kingdom, and I have some with me – " she pulled out a chain from the front of her blouse, showing off the glint of an emerald before stuffing it away, "and if you let me on your ship and bring me to the next island I'll – "**

**"Slow down."**

**"I'll give you all I have! Just, please! Let me leave!" She didn't like begging. She usually didn't do so, except lately she found herself doing it more and more. It upset her. The whole thing upset her.**

**She watched the redhead as she processed her words, contemplating a deal that Rapunzel thought was completely airtight and no harm at all for the pirates…whoever they were. Were the rest of them here? Did they set the fire? Maybe she shouldn't be with someone so dangerous…**

**But dangerous was a synonym for protection, once she was with them.**

**Clear blue eyes widened for a second, then squinted with a smile.**

**"Fine. We can always use another cook for a bit." And then she began pulling Rapunzel through the smoking streets.**

X … X

"So, it was my idea," Rapunzel said simply, folding her hands in her lap. She'd done what she had promised – guilt heavy in her heart, she'd given Merida the jewels that had belonged to her family, and the ones that she was framed of stealing and still searching for a way to return. Now, they'd never get back in the right owner's hands, but now that she knew more about the people it presently belonged to, she felt…slightly better about the whole charade. At least they got some amusement out of it, instead of wearing the jewellery just once a month.

Merida smirked, bringing her legs up to sit crosslegged on her end of their line of discussion. "You're missing somethin' there, Punz. You're not the only reason you're here."

The blonde tilted her head, sure her conclusion was sealed tight. Before Merida could explain, scrabbling nails on the deck brought their attentions to the swiftly approaching Toothless, dragging Hiccup along behind him. The dog had something ambiguous hanging from his mouth and Hiccup was pathetically swiping for it.

The brunette was groaning, thoroughly unimpressed, "Come on. Drop it. Drop it, buddy, you useless little…" He dwindled off as he finally got a hand in Toothless's fur, stopping his happy self-satisfied trot. Flynn inconspicuously kept a wary eye on the dog while Hiccup managed to engage in a tug of war with his loyal pet.

"Bit of trouble, there?" Merida grinned, folding her arms as if to emphasize how she wasn't going to help him. They realised it was a slobbery, chewed-up hat that Toothless was determinedly keeping away from Hiccup.

"No. Nope, fine and dandy, this is how I wanted to start the day."

"Great, then." Merida nodded at him. "I was just going to tell these two that having Rapunzel on the boat was, more than nothin', because of _me."_

Hiccup glanced up from his currently snarling troubles, his grey-green eyes flashing in alarm, but then just as quickly he focused back on Toothless and mumbled hastily, "Or, you know, we could be helpful and – "

Merida jerked forwards without even standing and effortlessly swiped the hat from Toothless. She shook it out, Flynn making an obvious dodge from the presumed dog-spit that would be flying off of it, and then she handed it back to Hiccup.

Smirking and toying with a dirtied reptile skull that she hooked into her belt, Merida said, "You remember what we talked about before we left, right, Rider?"

X … X

**Jack propped his elbows on the table, leaning over the surface in everyone's faces as he regarded what they had on display. Nothing he wanted. Well, they didn't really have a lot to spare in feeble bets, anyway.**

**"Okay, so, I don't want to intimidate anyone." Jack regarded the three others sitting around him: Astrid, Merida, and Flynn. "But here's my generous offer to whoever wins."**

**He leaned down, shook off his shoe, and slammed it on the table.**

**Flynn clapped slowly. Merida, already finding this whole thing stupid, pushed it away from her. And Astrid smirked, her voice the definition of sarcasm, "Wow, now I ****_really _****wanna win."**

**Jack said, "We should call the others over and tell them to place bets on us. I bet Toothless has some seagull corpses that would be just ****_aces_**** in my bunk."**

**"You say that as if you'll win." Flynn smirked, leaning over a skinned and very old lizard head that Astrid had pulled out of her collection as an offering.**

**Jack fell back in his chair, hands behind his head. "Is there really any competition?"**

**"You're going to regret that," Flynn threatened, pointing at him. Jack picked up Flynn's modest last-minute offering to their betting pool and tossed it at him.**

**"Here you go. I don't need a purse."**

**Flynn threw it back just as they were approached by another member, Fishlegs, who asked, "What's going on?"**

**Merida answered, "We're betting on who can come back with the most loot in the next shitty town we land on."**

**His pudgy face lit up. "You should have, like, a bonus point thing. You know, like if someone finds a cat or something – "**

**"This isn't I Spy," Jack chuckled.**

**"It's much more mature, obviously," Flynn added.**

**"Can't you tell by the outfit we're creating here?" He held up Merida's arrowhead necklace.**

**Fishlegs kept going, his reedy voice speeding a mile a minute with eagerness for something he wasn't even included in. "Really! It could be the real ****_checkmate_**** and whoever finds it gets everything. Plus if you tell me what it is I can help you get it."**

**"You're getting way too excited," Jack informed him, sitting back properly in his chair. "What would it even be? I don't think Toothless would take a liking to a ****_cat." _****He smirked, pointing his thumb at Flynn. "Nor Noah of Ark over here."**

**Flynn immediately offered, nudging Jack under the table instead of a retort to that comment, "Someone finds a girl, a decent-looking girl. There we go. Jackpot decided."**

**"Are you joking?" Merida snorted.**

**"What? It's a good idea and it's also impossible so this moron doesn't have any chances," he explained. Merida rolled her eyes so he quickly added in, "Come on, you two need a girly friend anyways!"**

**"Which one of you tools even started this idea?" Merida asked, dropping her head into her palms exhaustedly.**

**Flynn nodded at Jack. Astrid laughed, "Figures. Well, I have better things to do, enjoy fighting over that," and stood up to leave, Merida following right after her best friend.**

**"You think she's jealous?" Jack asked Flynn.**

**"Of what? The fact that you came up with this? Because if you think so, you, sir, should take a nice long look at what we have to win."**

**"No, the girl thing. Is she jealous?"**

**"She's jealous."**

**Jack, a sliver deflated as he watched their retreating backs, groaned: "Girls."**

**Further along the deck, Astrid sighed breezily, tightening her braid as they went up to watch for land or any followers. She said with amusement to Merida, ****_"Boys."_**

**And meanwhile Fishlegs was hypothesizing, "I'm gonna be on Flynn's side. Like obviously, he has the tactical advantage, being in this longer than we have and he can sabotage with Jack and – "**

X … X

"And guess who came back with the girl?" Merida teased, grin illuminating her whole face. Rapunzel seemed to be a bit confused, and Flynn just looked plain irritated at his loss being proven.

"You didn't even want to be a part of the bet!" Flynn exclaimed, voice hitching up in pitch. At Merida's unwavering sarcastic grin, he resigned: "Okay. Fine. I'll give you that one. But, if you recall, _I'm _the one who proposed we actually find a girl."

Merida raised an eyebrow. "Even without that condition, Rapunzel's still worth more than the crap you guys brought back!"

"Aww," Rapunzel cooed, but the two hotheads weren't paying much attention. Flynn rolled his eyes, leaning slightly across Rapunzel to speak directly at Merida.

"Yeah, but _I _came up with the girl ploy," he reminded her again. She immediately moved to mirror him.

"If we're goin' by that logic, then _Fishlegs_ brought her here!"

Flynn argued, "Ah cut it out, Jack started it even more."

"It's really valiant how you'd give up that title for your boyfriend," a female voice mocked, and they all looked up to see Astrid and Fishlegs having joined them. She smiled at the indignant expression she'd forced on the brunette.

"I wasn't done," he enunciated towards her. He swapped to a calmer voice, looking at both Merida and Rapunzel like asking for support. "Look, if we're taking a _broad_ view of the thing, it actually was _me_ who was the final straw."

"As usual," Merida snorted.

Astrid kneeled next to where Hiccup was silently listening to their banter, scratching Toothless behind the ears. Rapunzel lightly sighed, touching at her lips thoughtfully. "I do remember you talking to me before we left… How can I forget that?"

X … X

**"I can't believe Merida actually did it," Jack muttered, idly kicking up the sand alongside Flynn as they reached the ship. They hadn't been bargaining on there actually being soldiers in the town, but the fleet arrived out of nowhere as if they had the premonition that the crew would be there. Then again, they were yelling about a certain Rapunzel instead.**

**_"I_**** can't believe Merida did it before me," Flynn said, raising his eyebrows at Jack. They stood patiently beside where the two blonde women were talking, but Flynn couldn't miss how the new girl looked particularly antsy.**

**"You think she's hiding something?" he asked. Jack shrugged.**

**"Unless it's that she's secretly part of the army, I really don't care." He trotted up to the side of the boat, knotting his fingers in the net he used to scale up. He glanced back. "Coming? I'm gonna take back my shoe before Merida gets it. You can some save your pu-urse."**

**"Satchel. And no. Enjoy yourself," he dismissed Jack, and then decided to approach the girls' group. He looked at the blonde, her striking green eyes now blurry with tears. He hadn't really gotten the chance to get a good look at her so far, and, well, a good look it was. He tried to smile his best at her. "Troubled?"**

**"Second thoughts about her hitchhiking," Merida clarified, jerking her thumb at the new girl – Rapunzel. The blonde shyly smiled at him, tugging at her ringlets.**

**Flynn emitted a short chuckle. Yeah, that made sense. Some odd, annoying sort of sense that he wasn't sure he agreed with. "Okay, Blondie, let's talk for a second." Under Merida's obvious scrutiny, he placed a hand on her back – finding all those curls in the way – and steered her away on the rocky beach.**

**She obediently followed along, agitatedly continuing to ruin the tangled curls of her hair with the dangerous pincers of her worried grasp. Once they were a decent way away from the group yet close enough that if the guards were still on the chase they would be able to get away, he stopped, turned her around to face him, and – **

X … X

"And in true Flynn fashion, completely fucked the situation over, leaving her wondering why the only smart ones on the crew were the girls."

Once again, they all looked up simultaneously to spot – of course – Jack, who was finally making his way over with his habitual smirk. He then squeezed in on the crates next to Flynn. "Am I right?" he asked, pointedly leaning in.

Flynn pushed him away with a hand in his amused face as he exclaimed, "Can I not tell a gratuitously self-flattering story without any interruptions?"

"Sorry. Continue the thoroughly embarrassing tale."

X … X

**"So I hear you're not sure about this spontaneous roadtrip anymore."**

**Rapunzel cautiously bit her lip, looking up at him. She hoped it communicated a 'yes' clearly enough, but she nodded just in case. She'd been fine all the way here, geared by adrenaline and fear from the soldiers and the fire and just how exciting it all seemed – pirates, wow! Now it was more like… pirates, oh hell.**

**She was wondering if it was safer to find a boat and head out alone. Or just to turn herself in. The crew would be on the guard's radar, ****_surely_**** – she was sure they would bring her where she wanted, Merida and Hiccup were honest enough, but what if they unwillingly brought the whole kingdom's attention on her instead?**

**Flynn kept going without asking about the details. "Come on, think about it for a second. Obviously you're leaving behind a really glitzy life for – okay, don't look at me for reference, but take Merida. Look at her hair. Yeah, that's a summary of what you're stepping into. But that's the only bad part, I swear."**

**She didn't think he knew her exact problem, so she tried, "I already ****_told_**** her I would go, and now I'm thinking I shouldn't – " ****_And I promised her treasure I shouldn't be trading around…_**

**He laughed shortly. "Obviously you should! We inspire a spark of rebellion, Blondie, something I bet you didn't even know you had."**

**She crookedly smiled at him, sort of shrugging. Well for one thing, they all seemed relatively powerful. If the guard was ever after her again – or after them – surely they could fend them off.**

**"Now I don't know your whole story, but if you want anything within the Venn diagram of freedom, feigned immortality, and a status you can't ever shake off, well we're right in the middle of it."**

**He was making a different plan, she realised. She asked innocuously, "Status?"**

**"Piracy. It's a brand. It's not interchangeable like pretty little rich girl. I think it would fit you better than some cliché," he explained, and she only noticed he was reaching the short distance for her shoulder when she slightly turned, drawing her hair like a curtain around her. She didn't want to be known as the kingdom's disgusting scandal, just a figurehead for what she hadn't meant to do. If she left, she would still be running with no home to go back to.**

**If she…****_stayed_**** with them, then she wouldn't be the hapless royalty she once thought of herself as – she'd be Rapunzel. And she would have a home, if they would let her.**

**"Plus you can steal all you want," he said, making an obvious reference to the soldiers who had been after her. She softly laughed.**

**Rapunzel said before she could change her mind again, "Okay. Okay, I'll do it!"**

**"Phenomenal," he lilted, flashing a perfect grin at her that she couldn't help but shakily return. He helped her back to the boat, and with a cocky ****_look-at-what-I-fixed_**** expression towards Merida, he lifted Rapunzel up around the waist so she could grab hold of the net. She didn't know what she expected, but once she breached the deck of the boat, she held her breath.**

X … X

Astrid laughed, "You _flirted _her back on the boat?"

Jack leaned an arm on Flynn's shoulder, enunciating, "That's _lowww."_

He hastily jumped to his own defense with: "I _accidentally_ flirted her back – wait, no, no, I did not! I was just very concerned with her best interests."

Jack snickered, rolling his eyes. "Get a load of this guy."

"Hey! Hey. But." He cast a gaze over all of them, pointedly saying as if in silent beg for assurance while staring at Rapunzel, "I'm the one who convinced her to_ stay _with us."

Rapunzel giggled. "I can't believe it worked!"

Fishlegs asked awkwardly, "So technically does Flynn win?"

Merida said, "I found her first, and obviously she wanted to stay with me because there's no way _Flynn_ changed her mind. So I win."

"Oh come on! I had this!"

"Are we, er, _betting_ again?"

"Yeah, sure, who wants my shoes? Flynn? If you insist that you won – "

"Get your feet out of my face."

"Merida?"

"Jack don't you _dare_ – "

"I think Rapunzel wins no matter what. She could have not listened to Flynn."

"Astrid, don't make Jack notice me!"

"Just trying to help!"

"Uh, guys?"

Sparse attention turned to Hiccup, who was currently sitting on the deck, Toothless's massive head in his lap. He uncomfortably glanced them over, then said, "Uh, it wasn't any of your faults. I mean I don't mean _fault_. But. It was me."

"You didn't even say anything the whole time," Merida argued as she shoved a shoeless Jack back in his seat.

"Thank you for proving you were never listening to me. Anyways, it was before all this."

Rapunzel tilted her head. She didn't remember him from anywhere before she saw Merida – before she reached that town, the guard behind her for her framed thieving…

"You're the one who stole the jewellery!" Rapunzel gasped at Hiccup.

The brunette grinned crookedly. "Caught me."

"What? When was that?" Astrid practically yelled, shoving him lightly like that would force out the answer. He rubbed his shoulder, shrugging. Rapunzel's green eyes were staring so intently it was like they was having a staring contest that he was doing extremely shitty at.

He explained as if reading a list of the events to the sky, "A few days ago when we stopped at the capital I figured, yeah, good idea, steal things whose worth Jack can't even calculate! Then, I don't know, it turned into 'wow this is a pretty _bad_ idea' so I snuck into her manor saying I was her friend even though I had no idea who they were and just…thought I returned them?" At everyone's stares, he looked off to the side and concluded, "Yep. The end. …Sorry."

Jack was the first to exclaim, "Not bad, Hic! A second of confidence gets us a lifetime with Punz. Don't you think you should try that more often?" He dropped off the crates and ruffled Hiccup's hair, causing Toothless to look up and eye him tersely. Jack turned to Rapunzel, who looked mightily confused, and asked, "How do _you_ feel about this little heathen now? Should we push him off the boat?"

Flynn offered, "New figurehead?"

"Think a freckled fishbone will scare off anyone who dares cross our path?" Jack snickered, and Hiccup offered a feeble caricature's "Arrr" that mocked the other boys just as much as it mocked himself. He looked passively at Rapunzel, unintentionally questioning his worries.

She bit her lip again, taking in the whole crowd surrounding her – they weren't like her, but Astrid was right with one thing: she could have said no to Flynn's flirtatious attempts at getting her on the crew, and she could have left them behind countless times on this ship. The problem was, she didn't _want_ to leave, not anymore, and maybe she hadn't wanted to the instant she saw them enter the town. She smirked at Hiccup, saying coquettishly, "You just stole. We're pirates, aren't we? It's part of the description."


End file.
